The Theory of Steady State Super-Eddington Winds and its Application to Novae

Nir J. Shaviv

Published 2000-08-30, updated 2001-04-10Version 2

We present a model for steady state winds of systems with super-Eddington luminosities. These radiatively driven winds are expected to be optically thick and clumpy as they arise from an instability driven porous atmosphere. The model is then applied to derive the mass loss observed in bright classical novae. The main results are: 1) A general relation between the mass loss rate and the total luminosity in super-Eddington systems. 2) A quantitative agreement between the observed luminosity evolution which is used to predict both the mass loss and temperature evolution, and their observations. 3) An agreement between the predicted average integrated mass loss of novae as a function of WD mass and its observations. 4) A natural explanation for the `transition phase' of novae. 5) Agreement with eta Carinae which was used to double check the theory. The prediction for the mass shed in the star's great eruption agrees with observations to within the measurement error.